Using APA Style for Formatting Scholarly Writing
APA = American Psychological Association

Be joyful when your professor gives instructions to use APA style for your work.
This means that there will be no questions about how it should be formatted.
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed., 2001) is your most valuable tool for using APA format for scholarly writing.  However, APA recently published a shorter version (250 pages rather than 439 pages), Concise Rules of APA Style. The price for the spiral bound version ranges from $24 to $27, depending on your source (bookstore, online bookstore, or from APA online). ISBN 1-59147-252-0.

APA publishes a list of frequently asked APA Style Questions at http://apastyle.apa.org/previoustips.html. This is an excellent resource that you should probably add to your web favorites list.

Another tool, the APA-Style Helper, offers help in formatting references and many more things. APA-Style Helper is available for online purchase from APA for $34.95 (download). However, you may want to try the free version before purchasing the software to be sure this software is compatible with your version of Microsoft Word. Go to http://www.apastyle.org/stylehelper/ver5/ for additional information.

 
Web sites providing information from the APA Manual, 5th edition, 2001.  
Important for all papers and projects requiring APA formatting:  
  • Short-cuts are not acceptable! When in doubt, ask your professor.
  • Double check all information -- and always check your links for accuracy.
  • If you are having trouble finding all of the information you need to cite a web page (for example, you cannot find the author or the date), it is likely that you've found a page that shouldn't be included as a source in your research. Just because something is "in print" does not mean that it is legitimate information that is worthy of inclusion in a research paper. Anyone can post a web page based on truth, fiction, or a combination of the two.  Use the "Evaluating Web Pages" form to help decide whether or not a source should be considered of sufficient quality to be used in a scholarly paper.
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sstokes@troy.edu  May 22, 2007